Realising that the compensation given by administration to blast victims is insufficient, Rourkela MLA Dilip Ray paid Rs 7 lakh from his personal fund to about 80 victims of Gopabandhu Palli blast on Wednesday evening.
The local administration had paid an amount of Rs 10,000 to the houses that suffered major damages and Rs 5,000 to the ones that suffered minor damages.
On September 17, there was a blast in the house of one Jawaharlal Sribastav, due to which the roof of the first floor was completely blown away. As an impact of the blast, about 80 more houses were also damaged in the vicinity.
The younger daughter in-law of Sribastav family had died on the spot where as the elder daughter in-law had died at hospital. Significantly, the Rourkela police during investigation had come to know that illegal possession of explosives in the house was the reason of the blast, following which the police had arrested the house owner Jawaharlal and his two sons on the ground and forwarded them to court.
"After seeing the damages the poor people have suffered, I realized that the amount provided by the district administration is not enough due which I decided to compensate some amount from my personal money," said Ray.
As many as 20 persons have been paid Rs 20,000 each, who had faced major damage and about 60 more persons were paid Rs 5,000 each, who had faced minor damages.